The Perks of being a Warflower
by twitchytwain
Summary: Lacey Porter is a play thing for dangerous high school gang K.O.S and she despareately wants her freedom. Danny is an ex juvie blending back into society. Their love and need for each other is like an urban Romeo and Juliet but this Romeo is bleeding and this Juliet has her own demons to fight. Can they be brave together and find love in a hopeless place?
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note: **I got this idea after watching One Eight Seven where a teacher is caught in looming gang trouble in an urban high school in California.

Now, back to the story, Lacey is a vicious gang's puppet, essentially their chew toy to exploit in whichever way they see fit. Danny is a former drug dealer and a student who's trying to keep out of trouble after coming out of Juvenile detention for a drug related crime.

They meet, fall in love and as they say the rest is history. I hope you enjoy reading it as much I do writing it!

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**DISCLAIMER: **Needless to say that I own none of the characters from either the movie 187 or the Twisted TV show. There might be instances of violence, blood, drugs and sexual themes in this fic.

**#**

**The Rose That Grew From Concrete**

Did you hear about the rose that grew  
>from a crack in the concrete?<br>Proving nature's law is wrong it  
>learned to walk with out having feet.<br>Funny it seems, but by keeping its dreams,  
>it learned to breathe fresh air.<br>Long live the rose that grew from concrete  
>when no one else ever cared.<p>

-Tupac Shakur

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**LACEY**

**#**

**I think that if I touched the earth, it would crumble; it is so sad and beautiful, so tremulously like a dream.**

**-Dylan Thomas**

Breathing has nothing to do with your lungs; it's all about the dialogue between your heart and your brain. 'See your brain has to keep reminding your heart to pump blood into the organ.

One has to remind the other about breathing and functioning. They have to work together in order to survive.

Symbiosis.

Lacey tucked herself deeper into her black hoodie as she walked the green mile of Quincy Adams high school's long grimy corridor. With each stumbling step she reminded her brain to tell her heart to pump blood so that she could remember to breathe, so that her anxieties would not attack her again.

She knew that panic attacks were tricky bastards but she had to learn to control her fear. Lacey had to learn how to manipulate them, the same way everyone else around her had learnt to manipulate her.

"Hey Puppet, "someone called behind her cocking his arm back and hurling a balled- up piece of wet paper in the middle of Lacey's back.

Lacey didn't flinch she plodded forward, head down to avoid their eyes peeling her and scraping the shells of her soul. She hated this part of the day. She always felt so naked, as though they could still see the tattoo hiding on the nape of her damp neck.

Branded, that's what Lacey Porter was, she was K.O.S property.

When she was fully hidden by her metallic locker door, she finally looked up as her brown eyes sprang to life. She counted her breaths, following the method her psychiatrist had shown her. She counted each intake and outtake, counted her fingers to make sure that she was still present and that she was still Lacey Porter or at least a modicum of the girl formerly named Lacey Porter.

She hated L.A. She hated the petulant pink smog that crawled out every morning like a bloody fog to swallow her up. She knew that graduation was not too far away but the waiting was killing her. Her need to escape was stifling everything around her. She wanted New York, she wanted anything that said freedom, anything that said no more coarse hands crawling and creeping their way around her graceful limbs.

"Puppet"

The voice was deep, gruff, a hot breath dancing over her trembling skin.

"Cesar"

She mouthed inaudibly as his hands made light work of her dark cover and pulled down her hoodie.

"You should stop hiding Lacey, "he breathed against the shell of her flushed earlobe and she held back a sharp breath, biting her bottom lip. "You're beautiful" he added trailing his calloused finger along the deeply etched name on the back of her neck.

"Puppet" he read, reminding her of their bond and of his hold on her, of the gang's hold on her.

"There's a hang out today…after lunch,"

"I have science class Cesar" her skin around her brow line puckered as she interjected gently rolling him off her now exposed shoulder.

"Benny's gonna be there" he added touching her with his deep dark heat, creeping and crawling all over her prickly skin "it's not a request princess" he whispered as she cowered back.

"Lacey, "

Miss Henry, blonde and ethereal even in all that hallway filth, leaned against the computer science glass, her willowy arms folded and a strained smile fixed on her ashen face.

"Can I see you in my class, please"she motioned with her head, adding "now"

Lacey picked up her books, shrugged Cesar's hands off her hips and made her way toward the white stark haven of Miss Ellen Henry's computer class.

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	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note****: ****Thank you guys for reviewing and being intrigued by the possibilities of this fic.**

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**You are the music while the music lasts.**

**-T.S Eliot**

**#**

Miss Henry's class room was stark white with framed professional certificates hanging on the walls and wild cactus plants and potted flowers lining the windowsills.

"Those boys are bad news, they're not the sort of boys someone like you should be-"the teacher began, showing Lacey a neat little wooden seat in the front of the class. Gingerly, she sat down and crossed her legs scooting to the edge of the seat in case there was a need for her to escape her new bright white haven. Miss Henry leaned against the maple wood bookcase stuffed horizontally with books, drumming her pencil against the wood.

The hammering noise was grating as Lacey cupped her hands over her knee, shoulders hunched and belly pressed on her lap to keep her books in place.

"Someone like me?" She asked, her eyes narrowed and running down Ellen Henry's ill-fitting long paisley dress. The teacher moved closer, her voice a peal as she pulled a chair next to Lacey.

"You have-issues Lacey... and," she smiled reaching out to touch her hand, the sunlight skittering across her freckled skin. "If you need to talk, I'm here"

Hearing the judgement in her voice, Lacey felt the heat rush into her cheeks "What, did they demote you to school counsellor now?

"You should ask for a raise if you have to listen to all the shit the students spew on a daily bases" she shot to her feet, burning holes into Miss Henry's blue eyes.

"You're hurting about Rita aren't you?"

"What the fuck do you know about Rita?" her chest tightened, her heart hammering inside her ribcage.

"I know she was your friend and I know that she didn't deserve what happened to her." Her voice grew softer in an attempt to pacify Lacey.

"Lacey, it's not too late to change your circumstances, you don't need to be this…thing…this-"

"Fuck you, "she spat back, her knuckles white around her books and her boots digging into the worn floorboards. "Miss Henry, you think you know me? Lady you don't know shit. This is Quincy Adams and K.O.S runs this show"

"Lacey-Miss Porter"

She yelled as Lacey barrelled out of the classroom, jaw clenched tight, breath hitching as she stifled back the tears. Judy Porter's cupcakes couldn't fix the mess her life had become now. Her mother and her sister had become innate objects in her life now, things she had long since discarded in her head. They hardly spoke, save for the occasional grunt when passing each other in the hallway.

She wasn't Lacy Porter she was Puppet and the only person who could relate to her pain, to the monster shit of her life was gone. Rita was dead.

She shut her eyes, tasting a tear that had trailed its way inside her dry mouth. Everything felt epic and airless as the shudder of panic swept through her. She did her counts picturing the swinging pendulum in Dr Ashton's office, she did her counts but the panic rose and curled inside her belly barrelling toward her chest and grasping around her throat.

Lacey remembered her emergency pills, something her doctor was wary of since she was prone to overdose. He had diagnosed her as a danger to herself. Rummaging through her small satchel for the tablets, something in her chest locked and twisted as her knees gave way beneath her. She collapsed on the hallway just next to the honours cabinet with all those glittering cups and medals for students whose clubs she could never join.

**#**

It was said that California had the most beautiful sunsets, something about the smog making everything so fucking pink and so damn beautiful. Danny Desai wasn't so sure about that, San Fernando Valley was a sass pool but after two years in juvie, he'd take that sass pool over the grey walls of a stifling damp and dank prison cell.

A part of him was glad to be back in the valley; a part of him hated every ounce of the mountain ringed zone, the greasy ink tar, corner seven-eleven and palm trees lining the boulevards. A part of him knew that this place for him was Paradise, or the only paradise that he'd ever know.

Welcome back to Suburbia Danny boy, he thought standing in line at the bus top. He figured he was already late for his first date back to Quincy Adams but he didn't care even though his probation officer would probably care, so he feigned a care and checked his new watch. It was a welcome back gift from his mother, a big silver monstrosity that Danny had no use for. Prison changed your proprieties, it changed your chemical system, heck it even changed your hair. He ran a hand through his messy dark curls grinning at the tatted up rocker chick standing a few feet away from him. Danny was lucky to still have his hair. It had always been the one come on he had for pretty girls, that and his whisky brown eyes set against a smooth swarthy skin. That had always been his package, his game and so now he checked for her reaction to his demeanour, he checked for her tell.

Nothing. Absolutely nothing, so either he was losing his charm or things had changed drastically on the outside since his two year stint in juvie.

He looked up at the great big cerulean sky and grinned like a Cheshire cat. Danny Desai was happy to be alive and he was happy to be back.

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	3. Chapter 3

**Unbeing dead isn't being alive**

**-E.E Cummings**

**#**

The rapid sounds of gun fire bursting like firecrackers woke her up first and the peal of wailing sirens reminded her exactly where she was. No paradise here, no heaven. She was in the ghetto where she belonged, where they all belonged.

Junkies, thugs, juvies, drifters, cunts, puppets and a very special place for former princesses, yeah that was good old Quincy Adams high school for you.

Lacey lay there for a long while, eyes fixed on a green gecko crawling around the mouldy ceiling, scuttling past swirling patterns of light from passing vehicles, dashing past the dark places to seek the sunlight.

There was a flash of light, a clack of metal and then she heard the nurse's throaty voice. Lacey screwed her eyes up at the hefty woman, lifting herself off the unsteady cot.

"Good, you're up"

"Morning, Nurse Davis"

"You got to stop with all this nonsense Lacey, what' you taking?"

"Excuse me?"

"Crack, dope, coke, which is it?"

"I'm not taking anything"

"Hmpff, 'heard that before just before y'all overdose" she cocked a brow, massive breasts heaving while she scrutinized Lacey. The nurse turned around and scrimmaged through the medicine cabinet. She fished out a box of Tylenol and whirled around to face Lacey.

"Sure, paint us all with the same brush" Lacey snorted, grabbing the three tables that the nurse dropped into her hand.

"Lose the smart mouth girly, I know what you are"

"What am I Nurse Davis?" Lacey challenged, scrambling to her shaky feet. The older woman merely shook her head, clicking her tongue.

"Wild things don't feel sorry for themselves Nurse Davis, "she said, her chin thrust out "oh and I'm clean, see" she showed the nurse her arms, daring her with her fierce defiance. After collecting her things and stuffing them in her backpack, Lacey stumbled out into the hallway just as the bell rang for the next period. The crowd pulsated, swarmed and she hugged the walls travelling to her own beat, lost in her own world.

"You're sitting in my seat"

English class, her favourite class and some wet behind the ears jerk was overstepping his boundaries. She wished Rita was still round to tell him off, to help her fight her battles like she used to. It wasn't the same having the other girls in the gang with her, Sarita and Regina actually liked the parties, the drugs and all the nonsense, it made them like they were a part of something bigger than themselves. Lacey used to feel like that too before it all came crashing down, before she realized how deep they were in the murk.

"Really?' the boy said, scratching his chin. Leaning back against the wall, he gazed at her through long dark eyelashes and a smile began to toy with his lips.

"I don't see your name on it" he quipped, his gaze licking he length of her. She was tired, drained, and too exhausted to bicker about some stupid sitting position.

Lacey moved to an empty desk in front of the boy, eyes around the classroom crawling all over her as she settled into the cold hard wood.

The teacher said something about Dylan Thomas and she heard the startle of paper as books flew open searching for the required page.

Lacey hated taking a seat in front of people, hated that they could get a full view of her ink, her mark. She could feel the boy's eyes on her now, clawing her back, tiny little spiders scurrying up the back of her neck. A million hairs grew an inch on her arms. She caught her bottom lip between her teeth, tapped her foot on the floorboards, and drummed her nails against the wood of desk, waiting, waiting for something to happen.

And then it happened, the boy breathed.

In a whirl of flapping paper, she fluttered and flew up from her chair, pouncing on his desk, her hands gripping the wood. Dizzy, hazy, her heart pummelling her ribcage, Lacey scraped his desk, etching her name on the worn wood. She heard him snort and huff, heard the faint whispers behind her. His pecan skin and his tangled mess of dark hair unnerved her and when he ran his fingers through those thick curls, it grated her.

"There, now you see my _fucking_ name on it" she snarled at him.

Her chest was pounding, a thumping in her ears above the clatter of cheers and jeers in the classroom. She could feel Regina simpering behind her back; caught Sarita's husky chortles commending her bad behaviour.

"Miss Porter, headmaster's office! Now!"

"Miss Adams, please. It's my fault, I'm the bad guy and I'll take the blame"

From somewhere in her storm, she heard the noise, heard his voice and received his explanation to the English teacher; pick up the apology directed at her. She didn't know what to think or what to believe about him, all she cared about was the fact that his eyes would not be stuck on her ink for the rest of the period.

"I know you" he called to her as everyone toppled out of the classroom like wild animals in searing hot bush somewhere.

"Do we ever really know anyone?" Lacey said coolly, forcing herself to remain there glaring at him.

"I kissed you twice "he began, leaning against the wall, his knuckles rapping against his faded jeans. Lacey cocked her head and pursed her lips, waiting for him to finish his fairy tale.

"Once, we were five playing in your mom's backyard and the second time you were a junior cheerleader and I was some bum crashing a party"

"You slapped me both times, if I might add" he smiled devilishly, a new glint in his eyes.

"Yeah, well that was a long time ago" Lacey shook her head, trying to hide the fact that she was trying very hard to place him, to remember him.

"Yeah, you're not a cheerleader anymore" he scanned her slowly, finishing with nonchalant shrug that set her off.

"No shit, Sherlock" she spat, nerves jingling before she shoved past him.

"I like you better this way" Danny called but his voice was crushed by the wild clatter of noise around them and she was swallowed by the throbbing crowd, mingled in their wet sweat.

#

Danny couldn't keep his eyes off Lacey; she was clinging to the back of the class again with Cesar and the rest of their gang. She sat there, slumped against a corner with Cesar's arm swung over her shoulder and his fingers drumming her chest. She swept back a lock of hair licking her forehead and tucked it behind her ear. Danny's mouth dried up and his heartbeat rocked hard inside his chest whenever her eyes drifted towards him. Her eyes would coast, wide and bewildered before scampering off to the teacher, sometimes they drifted, heavy lidded and lingered as if daring his eyes for a dance.

"My name is Mr Garfield" the man in front of the class announced, "I'm going to be your substitute teacher until they release Mr Hopkins from the hospital" he said scrawling his name, small and meek on the blackboard.

Danny's eyes rushed back to the group at the back of the class to single Lacey out yet again. He knew what she was, he had seen the tattoo and knew how the Quincy Adams worked, knew how the gang operated. He wondered how a girl like her could've winded up in her situation. Danny knew what a puppet was, he'd been privy to a few of them before he had his head fixed and he knew what was expected of them.

Cesar saw him starring and Danny flinched before cracking him a big flashy smile to which Cesar nodded. With a scowl, Cesar tightened his grip on his property and the message was clear, _steer clear of this one. _He nodded back before directing his attention back to Mr Garfield. Danny had belonged to Cesar's gang once, once when he couldn't make decisions for himself, once when he had been a coward because only cowards hid in gangs. That's what that psychologist in prison had told him, real men were never party to gangs, independence and freedom were never part of any gang's vocabulary. Danny had long lost his need to belong, his need to please, he had a new need and that was freedom.

"Has anyone read animal farm?"-Garfield addressing the class

"No, but I fucked a sheep once" Cesar yelled, hands cupped around his mouth.

Everyone broke out in laughter, heads thrown back and hands cupped over mouths in delight of this joke Cesar had made. Danny didn't laugh and he noticed someone else who had missed the joke, the fiery Lacey Porter.

"Danny" Cesar nodded as they were all clearing out of the dingy classroom "good to see you, Danny,'

"Good to see you, Cesar"

'We're skipping class, having a lil party over at Benny's. You should come with that"

"I don't know man, you know how it is"

"Benny misses you, the boys miss you" Cesar affirmed, draping an arm around Danny's shoulder "Danny boy, you know how this works. You're coming with us"

#

Nearly an hour later, they were all sitting inside Cesar's brown impala, the girls stuffed in the back seat like sardines in a rocking can. They had bought stock to last them till Christmas, pills, coke, beer, tequila, cheap whiskey and mountains of mixed weed.

Cesar kicked one of the many beer can littering the sticky floor as they all tumbled inside the dank, grimy graffiti house. Danny groaned at the ear-splitting clank, his hand reaching up to scratch the back of his head. He sniffed the air tentatively; a stench of weed mingled with crack permeated the air. Benny came up behind him, grunted and motioned him toward the couch where Archie was already perched working the cap tequila bottle with his teeth.

"How about we seven minutes in heaven?" Regina exclaimed, removing her jacket while locking her eyes to a bashful Danny.

"Seriously, what are we twelve?" Danny scoffed, his eyes rushing toward Lacey.

"Not the way I play it baby" Regina persisted, slinking her arm around Cesar's shoulder.

"Tell him, _chica_" Cesar teased, expertly rolling a new joint as Sarita had already seized his old one.

"We do it differently, old Danny boy"

"Is that so?"

Cesar motioned for Regina who promptly drained the last of her beer before sauntering over to Danny. She leaned over him, red hair swinging out over her shoulder and brushing his cheek "I'm Regina and I think you're hot" she whispered before tossing her hair back and kneeling down on the floor in front of him.

Danny didn't miss Sarita and Archie's slack chortles as they passed a joint between the two of them. His eyes skipped over to Lacey, her long legs slung awkwardly over Benny's lap, his calloused hands stroking her thighs.

Regina settled the bottle on the wobbly table and spun it around. It whirled and gyrated, the final roll hitting Danny like whiplash.

"Lacey, "Benny announced, lighting a cigarette. He began to cough, deep chesty seizures "You're lucky _ese_, she's the best"

"Spin it again baby, I can make you real happy" Regina persisted but Lacey started toward him, glaring defiantly as she stretched her right hand out towards him.

"Are you down?" Benny called from somewhere behind Lacey, behind Danny's giddy miasma.

"Yeah, I'm down" he heard himself say before catching Lacey's hand and following her through the cheering group sprawled in dirty couches with cigarette burns, pulling on ice cold beer. His feet hammered on the dusty hardwood floor, his heart rocking hard against his chest.

Danny was scared and he didn't know why. He'd never really been scared of anything in his life and this, this moment with his clammy fingers clinging around hers, following her to some steamed distant room with too much sun and too much smoke, this scared the shit out of him.


	4. Chapter 4

_**A/N**__: Hi guys, I really tried to make this chapter longer but if I make it too long then I feel the chapter will lose some of its essence and give too much away (wink wink)! I promise some chapters will be longer than others when necessary, bear with me…_

_#_

**There is another world, but it is in this one**

**-W.B. Yeats**

**#**

It was an old room, a room she had inhabited before countless times with numberless heartbeats and endless dark crawling hands.

Lacey vanished the minute they entered the yellow stuttering pulse of the room, an out of body experience she had trained her mind to perform. It wasn't _her_ tucking her hair behind her ears; it wasn't her pulling the hoodie over her head and fluffing her hair. It was that other girl, the one who looked just like her, sounded just like her and moved just like her. The other girl had taken shape and form again, she was there taking over everything while Lacey drifted, not willing herself to watch.

But it was like a car crash, she could do nothing but look, nothing but watch.

"Stop"

It was not her voice that said it and so she locked, paused and pieces of her weighty limbs fell unto the clumpy bed. This one wouldn't be rough, she thought, he wouldn't be anything because his body language told her he didn't want this just as much as she didn't want this.

"Have you read Animal farm?" Danny asked, standing up abruptly.

"No" Lacey whispered shaking her head, covering herself with her hoodie as if she was covering her wounds. She raked her fingers through her tangled hair; waiting for this one's hurt to manifest itself. They all had their hurts, their tells and tales and so she waited for this one to explore to his own fantasies.

"Have you read Animal farm?" he inquired again, slowly resting on top of the bed, miles away from her.

"What is with this damn book, are you and Mr Garfield calling us animals?"

"No, just trying to illustrate a point" he raked his fingers through his messy hair "Quincy Adams is a dictatorship, and so-"

"No shit and so Benny runs the show"

"For the moment, yes but-"

"You think I'm stupid, I know about tyrants" she sneered, the room filling up with music from the outside. It pounded the walls, controlled the space around them at a nauseating pace.

"I'm just saying that Mr Garfield was trying to make a point about the whole system and comparing it to the book, you should actually tr"

"You think just because you've been to juvie and read a few books that makes you fucking Einstein?" she spat clenching her fists, aching to connect them to his jaw.

"News flash homeboy, you're back in the damn valley!"

"Why are you always so angry?"

"Why aren't you?"

"What are you rebelling against?"

"Everything, "Lacey snarled, her knuckles white around her hoodie "I know about you, I did my own research"

"Well look at you, "he smirked "the resourceful sort" he said, the static in his eyes making her hair rise.

"I seem to be known in all the wrong places" he added, his eyes clinging to hers, his liquor talking.

"You've paid your debt to Benny, went to juvie for some drug bust. Why are you still wallowing around here for?" she asked, slipping on her hoodie.

"Who said I'm wallowing?" he smirked, lifting his beer and taking a hefty gulp.

"I know your type, "she shrugged "and your type usually thinks they're doing me a favour by _not _fucking me"

Danny remained quiet, the beer buzz slowing his sentences.

"You're not by the way because the minute you leave, the next guy won't be so chivalrous"

"Listen, Lacey I –"

"You can take your pity and self-righteous attitude and shove it up both your holes!"

"Is that all you got, Wonderwoman?" He cocked an eyebrow "I know your type too, you act tough and talk a good game but you're really soft and mushy on the inside"

"I guess that's your diagnosis since you're psycho-analysing me?"

"Sorry, it's a bad habit"

"You didn't answer my question"

"About?"

"You and Benny. How come you're back here?" she blew a lock of hair from her face" 'you back to score?"

"Nah, I'm leaving my life righteously now, might even study theology"

Lacey scoffed, clanking the frozen beer inside her bottle.

"What'd you wanna be when you grow up?"

She looked up at him, startled by the question and slightly unnerved by the softness in his voice "Who says I'm not grown already?" she shrugged her shoulders, pushing a lock of hair behind her ear.

"I think you're interesting" he said quietly, his dark brown eyes studying her like she was a Rubik's cube.

"Just wait until you get to know me" she breathed, slipping the bottle neck between her lips, her eyes looking intently at him.

The loud banging on the door startled them, Lacey jumped in her skin, eyes flashing toward the rotting door masked with graffiti.

"Your time's up!" Cesar hollered behind the door. Slowly, Lacey peeled herself off the crusty bed sheets and headed for the exit. She hesitated at the door, fingers wound around the cold doorknob with her heart kicking against her chest. The tremor of the music came through the floorboards, up through the soles of her feet and Lacey waited for Danny to say something.

"Thank you" he said and she wrenched the door open, rushing out into the smoke filled room.

"There you are, "Benny snatched her wrist, dragging Lacey toward him. He sat her on his lap again, one hand gripped tightly around her neck, the other curled around his beer. Lacey had learned fast over her time with the gang, everything provoked Benny; she could breathe and that could provoke Benny.

She felt Benny's marinated armpits against her shoulder, soaking into her flesh. The diabolical heat in the room was gravity, it sagged everything around them. Lacey took a long sip of beer, the gold warm against her tongue from too much cradling and not enough drinking.

"Seven minutes of hell, wasn't it _chica_? Benny asked, he was starting to thaw a bit, his temper softening.

"More like two minutes of nothin" Lacey offered with a shoulder shrug.

Everyone laughed, loose, lazy chortles but Cesar's eyes stung, draped around her like she was the chosen one. Lacey could feel him watching, observing as Danny's eyes bribed her eyes for another quick dance, watching as her eyes fluttered out to the blistering porch in a weak attempt to avoid Danny's.

# # #

Hatred can fuel you, give you energy but it drains you after that and leaves you depleted. It leaves you feeling and looking like a version of your former self.

Judy Porter was a version of her former self just like her daughter; she just didn't know it yet. Lacey watched her mother over the years grow into a functioning alcoholic. She couldn't go a day without a bottle. She couldn't face her bed without cradling something; she always needed something especially after Lacey's dad left. A whisky bottle was her new security blanket.

Hatred for her former husband fuelled her and the alcohol numbed her. It was her perfect storm.

"Did you have a good day?"

"Amazing," she replied biting into her cookie.

They liked playing this game, the same act over and over like Groundhog Day. Nobody actually said anything worth saying and no one actually listened.

"Uhm...I uhm…are you speaking at Rita's funeral?"

"Her mother asked me to say a few words"

"Will you be okay?"

"I'll handle it"

"Everything will be okay, you'll see" Judy assured her as she rose from her chair. She paused to give Lacey's shoulder a firm squeeze before staggering up the stairs to her bedroom. With a sigh, Lacey finished the rest of her milk and switched off the kitchen lights. She was about to drag herself up to her bedroom when something made her stop, an old family album sitting on the side table next to the staircase. Picking up the leather bound book, she carried it up the stairs with it her.

Lacey flung herself on the bed, creasing the rose quilt and leafed through the worn photo album. The house was quiet except for the clank of the wind chimes outside her window and Clara's blaring TV behind the wall.

She paused when she reached a picture of her parents together, arms draped around each other. They looked happy behind the glossy film, grinning like school kids and then Lacey narrowed her eyes to take a closer look at the picture. The background was littered with balloons and other party decorations but what stunned Lacey were the two figures sitting solemnly on a pair of tire swings. The two kids were gazing at each other and holding hands. The image seemed odd, a pair of kids secluding themselves from the festivities whirling around them. They seemed to be in a trance, lost in their own space, caught in their own secret. Lacey recognized his face; the little boy in a red flannel shirt was Danny Desai.

#

Cesar let the car idle in the dark alley and Danny prayed he wouldn't kill the engine. It wasn't fear; he only wanted to be prepared for the getaway should the shit hit the fan. He had no illusions about why they were parked in some pitch black alley at eleven in the evening, Cesar was there to deal, push his narcotics. Benny had him making deliveries and Cesar had already divulged the news about their latest stash, some new drug they were cooking with the help of their new _'chemist'._ Danny had been very firm with Cesar, _no deals, I'm on parole_ and yet he found himself sitting inside Cesar's car wishing he'd been carrying a piece for his own protection.

The obscene heat inside the impala breathed hot and moist, wilting his hair. Cesar pealed open a pack of camel cigarettes.

"By the way…when it comes to Lacey," he took a long drag from his cigarette blowing rings of smoke until the air around them filled with bitter smoke" Benny, doesn't like to share"

"That's not the impression I got, I thought she was uhm…" he said quickly, trying to hide the tightening stammer in his voice. Danny had to play it cool, he had to play this with his best poker face otherwise Cesar would call him out on his bullshit.

"She was a gift, sometimes Benny likes giving pretty gifts" Cesar explained, fingers drumming against the peeling steering wheel.

"Who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth then?" Danny chuckled, the threat received.

"Just don't get too attached" he warned, the cigarette dangling from his mouth as he spoke.

"Is that what happened to you Cesar? Got in too deep?"

"I don't know what you mean, ese" Cesar shrugged his shoulders, squinting out into the ink black evening.

"I saw you caught in that, like a fly to flypaper"

Archie chuckled behind them, a heaving, wheezing snigger in the thick heat of the dark car. When Danny noticed the flicker of headlights in the distance, his heart pushed against his chest a million times per second before the other car lurched, hurtling toward them. With wheels screeching, it came to a rocking halt before the driver handed Cesar a wad of cash in exchange for a few bags of meth. It was a quick, fluid exchange, liquid like poetry.

"Yo, ese" Cesar nodded his head, tapping his hand against the other guy's hand and finishing off with snaps and twists of fingers around fingers. Secret handshakes, Danny thought shaking his head slightly.

"Yo, so, who's he?" the guy motioned to Danny on the passenger seat.

"Nah, relax" Cesar said turning to look back at Danny "he's family"

A hot minute later, they were rushing down a labyrinth of zagging streets, hot air hissing through his fingers as he hanged his arm out the car window. Pulling up in front of his house, Danny stared at the place for a moment; the lights inside the house were out but the porch light beamed out illuminating the hood of the car.

"Hey, sleep tight" Cesar yelled above the music as Danny slammed the car door shut making the car rock.

"Drive loose" Danny grinned, jerking from the shadows and dragging his feet toward the house.

"Remember, ese, don't cross Benny!"

"Sure" he nodded reluctantly.

Danny stood there watching the impala drive recklessly, swerving all over the road, music shattering through its open windows with Archie passed out in the backseat.

_Don't cross Benny. _

#

Survives couldn't die, they were made of steel; at least that's what Lacey had thought before it happened. Rita had committed suicide and that had not been part of their survivor mantra.

Lacey stood in front of the small crowd gathering around the cemetery. She breathed in hard and deep, fighting the tightening in her chest.

"I loved my friend," she began, a flicker of panic gripping her voice. She shut her eyes, counted to four before starting again "Rita went away from me. There's nothing more to say. The poem ends, soft as it began. I loved my friend." She breathed.

Lacey edged closer to the hole, her breath held in so deep that it rattled her entire body. Leaning over, she squeezed her eyes shut to halt the hot tears that were threatening to break free.

"_Hasta Luego_, "Lacey finally said, releasing the rosary onto the coffin. She turned, the soft thud of earth covering the coffin seeping in and clinging around her like second skin. Finding Rita's mother, she wrapped her arms around her and they made their way to the cars with the rest of the mourners.

Later, the younger crowd were gathered around their cars, smoking and drinking warm flat beer. Lacey heard everyone talk, waffle about but there was no real conversation. She didn't even know why most of them came as they had never been friendly with Rita.

"Bitch, now she'll be young forever" Regina pouted, slipping a cigarette between her painted lips.

"We're born to fucking die" Archie added his particular brand of needless wisdom before flicking a cigarette stub into the gutter.

"No Archie, we're born to fucking live" Danny corrected him, taking a hefty swig from his beer.

# # #

Lacey had to blink to see the skyline; she screwed her eyes toward the green roofs stippling the shimmering horizon, they blended with the swaying palm trees creating a heaving crest of snort-green waves.

Nothing endured in the valley and Lacey wished that she could burn the whole place down, purge everything and everyone in it. She was alone, perched up on Benny's green roof with her arms draped around her legs, knees pressed to her chest.

"Hey, I managed to find some scotch"

She recognized the voice and didn't have to turn around to release her venom.

"Go away!" she hissed, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"It's pretty good scotch" Danny noted, reading the label "cheap but still pretty good"

"Did I stutter? I told you to get lost" Lacey narrowed her eyes at him as he took a sit next to her swinging his legs over the edge of the roof with the back of his knees brushing the gutter.

"I want to be alone" she scowled, teeth clenched.

"Stop lying" he teased, rolling his eyes at her.

"I liked your poem" he said, handing her the drink" Langton Hughes, right?"

Lacey snorted, tossing her hair over one shoulder and giving him a sidelong glare. She took the glass he offered and took a quick swig, the burn making her cough.

"Sorry, being a wise ass is a hard habit to break"

"Listen, you know a lot and you wanna flex it, I get it" she shrugged her shoulders then guzzled more of the scotch. She didn't care about the burn anymore, she would take it and she would learn to love it.

"Actually that's not accurate but-"he gulped enough to let out a long breath "what do you see when you look at me?"

"What?"

"What do you see; do you recognize me as a man?"

"You're here, with them" she gestured down toward Benny and the rest of his herd standing around the lawn, drinking and smoking "I don't see them as men"

"Correction, I'm here with you"

The gentle hum of his soft voice made her shiver and she wrapped her arms tighter around her knees, slowly rocking back and forth.

"You ever killed anyone?" she whispered, starring into the glittering gold liquid in her glass.

"No" he replied gruffly.

"You ever wanted to?"

"Yes"

"I think funeral after parties might start to grow on me" he teased, arching his eyebrow and grinning at her.

"It's not an after party" Lacey sniffed, glaring back down at the group on the lawn.

"It feels like it, what you call this?" he frowned, gesturing toward the growing gathering.

"A wake"

"I believe a wake is before the formalities" he said "This is an after-party; we're a culture that celebrates death"

"I think we're a culture that celebrates life" she replied, then turned to look back at him "at least we should be"

"We should be a lot of things" he said gravely.

"You wanna shoot some hoops?" she asked, perking up and lurching to her feet. Danny had to grab her hand to prevent her from slipping off the roof.

"Careful," he simpered, the weight of his hand warm around her hand.

#

_Strangers are endearing because you don't know them yet_, Danny had read that in some book while he had been in lockup. It stuck because that was all he dealt with behind bars, strangers.

"Hey, wake up homeboy!" Lacey laughed, tossing him the basketball "I'm about to school you in the game"

"Oh, so think you're a ball payer ha?" he winked, bouncing the ball and crossing it over behind his back for a back dribble. Danny could smell the tar under their bare feet, its hot grease tearing up the air in the blistering summer heat.

"You know I am" she replied trying to cover him as Danny threw up a jumper shot behind the three point line.

"What are we playing for?" he requested.

"You got a bet in mind?" she cocked an eyebrow, throwing him the ball again.

"Maybe" he grinned, looping around her.

"You gonna keep teasing or what?" Lacey asked watching the movement of his feet intensely; he dribbled low and fast with his left hand before switching to his right.

"I'll play you for a kiss" he called trying to drive past her. Too fast and not fazed by his bluff, Lacey stole the ball, dribbling it between her legs then behind her back.

"You're on" she chortled huskily, dribbling past him and ducking under his extended arm to jump for the basket. Realising the ball with one hand, Lacey dropped it through the basket, above the rim. It was the recoil that threw her off balance as she fell down on top of Danny.

Squealing in pain, he felt the weight of her body on every inch of his body. Her warm breath fanning his cheek, her breasts pressed against his chest, her thighs brushing his thighs. Suddenly, Danny's back didn't hurt anymore with her lying on top of him like that. He closed his eyes and really felt the moment, the gravity of it. Pressing her hands on either side of him, Lacey slowly pushed herself up then reached for his hand to help pull him up.

It took Danny a while to realize that he had been holding his breath and it was only when he gasped for air that he took in everything around Lacey, the quaking green leaves around her, the electric air around her and the heady lilac smell of her.

"You don't play fair" he said plucking a twig from her messy curls.

"If you find it hard to punch yourself, I'll happily do it for you" she snapped at him, drawing back into her shell again.

"Sarcasm, the protest of cowards" Danny called, watching as she jogged back into centre court swinging the ball between both hands.

"Double or nothing" Lacey challenged him, bouncing the ball once before holding onto it, she was testing him and searching for his flaws. Quickly, before Danny even knew what was happening, she was dribbling again, driving past him with big giant strides before shooting a three-pointer.

Fifteen minutes later, they were slumped up against the wall watching the rest of the crew winding up and down the wiry tarred lanes relishing in the block party celebrating Rita's life.

Lacey was braver than him, Danny thought. All that time while he was in juvie he'd always wondered what the outside would look like. The outside looked like her, everything moved around her. She thought she was tagged and labelled, sorted in some box but Danny saw her differently, he saw hope when he looked at her. Lacey had heart and she didn't even know it yet.

"I remember you"

"You do?"

"Yeah, I do" she said simply before taking a swig from her glass. She held out her glass and Danny refilled it to the required brim.

It must have been scotch induced stupidity, that's the only motive he could perceive, the only reason he would be dumb enough to kiss Lacey Porter with Cesar only meters away from them.

"Are you drunk?" she asked.

"I'm not sober" he replied, his eyes gliding over every single sweet inch of her.

Lacey reached out behind him to grab the half-empty bottle. Her face was so close his face, so close that he could count all the eyelashes dusting the tops of her cheekbones; see the tiny quiver of her bottom lip just before she sucked it between her teeth. Danny heard a thousand million humming birds fluttering around inside his chest, a zillion heartbeats throbbing inside his throat and his temples.

Danny swallowed hard, his gaze dropping to her lips.

He wanted to kiss her,

He was_ going_ to kiss her


	5. Chapter 5

**We've got to live, no matter how many skies have fallen.**

**-D.H Lawrence**

**#**

Crack-Crack-Crack-

Lacey whipped her head toward the sound of gunshots.

"Welcome to screwed-up suburbia," Lacey yelled above the clatter of gunfire watching Benny and his posse gathered beneath rows of palm trees sprouting from grey concrete, leaves swaying in the hot sticky air.

"K.O.S forever _ese_!" Benny shouted taking another cracking shot at a line of bottles glimmering in the blistering afternoon sun. They all stood in their in ill-fitting suits, ties cast away, shooting beer bottles off blue trash cans. Some of them were already stripped down to their white sleeveless vests; black bandanna's hanging from their left pockets as they gathered around weight lifting equipment in the backyard.

"Where everything is completely fucked up" Danny said clearing his throat, face flushed red as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Careful my cynicism doesn't rub off on you" she smiled giving him another sideways glance through heavy lidded eyes. The whine of an aeroplane ripping the bleached blue sky rumbled around them, blue like Danny's denim shirt, Lacey thought, psychedelic like his tie with the whirls and swirls of it drawing her closer to him.

"Oh yeah, I bet you're highly contagious" he murmured dipping his head close to hers again. In a great effort to avoid his eyes, Lacey fixed her eyes onto his tie. It didn't seem like _him_, it was too jolly, too jazzy. It looked like something his granddad could have worn during the Chicago jazz scene, something Danny could've rustled up from some battered old cardboard suitcase in the attic. Then Lacey remembered that he'd been behind bars only a few weeks ago. He was still wet behind the ears, fresh from juvie and he probably had dug the tie up from his grandfather's old clothes in some dusty attic. It was quite sad, beautiful even and the closer she got to him, his hair, the more she felt him. Danny smelled like the wild trees around them and she suddenly wanted to bury her hands in his hair.

"I should be quarantined" she chuckled softly.

"Former cheerleaders turned misfits should never be quarantined. You add colour to the world." Danny said looking at her like it hurt to look at her, brows furrowed and eyes committed to the outlines of her face.

"Did you read that off a hallmark card?" Lacey scoffed rolling her yes.

"Are _you_ drunk?" he whispered but she could still hear him above the vibrating music, above the cacophony of voices, gunshots, bleating aeroplanes, hooting cars and barking dogs.

"Do I look sober?" she raised an eyebrow as she watched the movement of his lush lips.

"You look beautiful" Danny said licking his lips before he swallowed. His shoulder was pressed up against her shoulder, part of his sleeve brushing her hand making her skin tingle.

'Don't look at me like that" Lacey said shaking her head. She felt him seeping into her skin, heated and uninvited. Someone cleared his throat, yanking them both from the moment and they jolted up propping firm and square against the wall.

"Danny, "Cesar greeted, hovering over them with a toothpick dangling from his mouth. He rose like a gaunt shadow even though he was barely six feet as he floated above them blotting out the sun. Plumes of white smoke veiled his olive face as he puffed out a haze from his cigarette.

"Cesar" Danny jerked up, the name tearing past his lips. His brown eyes narrowed as he looked up at him before the gangbanger collapsed next to Lacey.

"_Vamos hermano_" Cesar slurred, stroking Lacey's arm and glaring at Danny "Let's go shoot some bottles" he said slipping another hand behind Lacey's neck to caress her tattoo.

"I can't handle a gun man, it's a parole violation" Danny insisted, his eyes following Cesar's hand as it massaged the back of Lacey's neck.

"Fuck your P.O, _tio_" Cesar laughed tossing his head back "Here, take the piece" he said flashing out a gun from his waistband and handing it to Danny.

"No, _mano_" Danny protested, holding up his hands as Regina bounded for the group waving her mobile phone around.

"Lights, camera, action" Regina laughed as she stumbled back slightly, an obvious effect of the keg she had been consuming earlier.

"What are you doing?" Lacey asked looking up at the redhead. She shielded her eyes with both hands, blocking the fantastic glare from Regina's camera phone.

"I'm documenting" she replied winking behind the lens of her mobile as she adjusted the video settings.

"Come on; get that thing out of my face"

"I'm filming here. Sex, lies and videotape"

"Come on Danny; tell me what your fantasy is?" she teased focusing the camera toward a flushed Danny. She wrapped her fingers around Danny's loosened tie, tugging at it teasingly until he slipped it off his head and handed it to her.

"You want an unadulterated emotional outpouring?" he asked toying with her "You sure you can handle that?" He asked as she secured the stolen tie around her neck.

"Hey, I'm the queen of sexual pervasion, "Regina laughed "next to yours truly over here" she added jerking her head toward Lacey.

"God, Regina is nothing secrete to you?" Lacey hissed through clenched teeth "We just buried Rita!"

"Perverse is fucking killing yourself, besides she wasn't even my friend"

"You are truly damaged" Lacey said scrambling to her feet before Cesar pulled her down and draped his arm around her shoulder.

"You wanna talk damaged, look in the mirror princess" Regina yelled waggling her finger down at Lacey.

"Hey, _callate puta" _Cesar barked, his eyes cutting holes through Regina. Her jaw snapped shut and she retreated back like an injured dog.

"_Andale_, "Cesar said, flicking the toothpick to the ground and motioning for Danny to get up "We're taking Lacey home"

#

Danny thumbed through the mail eliminating all the redundant adverting brochures and set aside the monthly bills. It was a great pile of urgent notices and pink slips sitting on the kitchen counter. They were late paying the bills again and she was buying him fresh-out-of-juvie gifts. _Who did that, where was the logic? _He loved his mother but there were times like now when he was caught between love and another feeing he couldn't understand_. _It was the feeling of a father who wanted to chastise his children but it was also the feeling of a man wanted to protect his family_. _If love had to be reinvented in order to last, did he need to keep reinventing the love he felt for his mother or was that the only unconditional love that existed?

He was leaning against the kitchen sink, picking at a bowl of cereal when his mother came into the kitchen. Speedily, she swathed her nurse's uniform over the ironing board and began to hum a soft tune. Danny watched as Karen hunched over the ironing, pale and frail as if she was stuffed with sawdust and might collapse down on the linoleum floor at any moment. Time, Danny thought had diminished her into a tattered ragdoll. She had seen too much, been through too much and Danny's prison term had taken its toll on her. He didn't need to keep reinventing his love for her, he decided. His love for his other was as constant as time and the universe, it would always be there.

"I'm gonna take it back" his voice croaked, eyes clinging to the wiry veins in her hands.

"What?" Karen looked up, tired and weary with dark circles under her eyes.

"I'm gonna take back the watch"

"Why?" she stopped her ironing, hands flying to her scrawny hips.

"'Cause I think we need the money" Danny shrugged his shoulders, gulping down the rest of the milk from his cereal bowl. It was an act his mother always found deplorable.

"Don't be ridiculous, it was a gift"

"An expensive gift, a gift you can't afford"

"You let me worry about what I can and cannot afford. I want you to try and be a kid for once" she commanded, pushing strands of hair behind her ears as the grief inside Danny's chest grew and stifled his breathing.

"I'm sixteen and an ex-con, I'm no kid" he gulped back the pain rising up his throat.

"You think that makes you a man because it just makes you stupid"

"I just want to take care of you" Danny whispered, his heart growing heavy.

"You can't take care of me. I take care of you, that's how this works" Karen smiled weakly as her son circled around her to squeeze her shoulder, "now go get that education" she laughed hoarsely.

"Yes, mam"

"And Danny," she called as he neared the screen door "stay out of trouble"


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Thank you for the continuous support guys and yes SBT, you are indeed correct in your assumptions! LOL**

**Love is a naked boy**

**-Ovid**

**#**

"Pick a number, pick a number" Mr Garfield squeezed past the desks, scrambling up the narrow aisles shaking the scraps of paper inside the basket. Slowly, Lacey dug through the pile and plucked out a torn piece. She stretched out the wrinkled cut and read the number scribbled down on it. She was still hung-over from the weekend's alcoholic binge. She was restless with a pounding headache and a sickening taste in her acrid mouth.

"Everybody got their paper?" The teacher continued to bark and Lacey winced as he moved in front of the blinds, the sun hit his reading glasses cutting straight to Lacey's scratchy eyeballs. She had no idea how her mother managed her co-dependency, maybe after a while hangovers learned to more forgiving to drunks.

"If you have a number one, raise your hands" Mr Garfield continued once everyone had fished out a paper from the basket. Lacey groaned when she realized what the exercise intended. She would be paired up with another number seven. She covered her ears against the cackles and screeches as her classmates raised their hands and found their partners.

"Number seven, "the teacher yelled strolling back up toward the front of the classroom not bothering to glance over his shoulder as someone hammered the board with a wet ball of tissue. Hesitantly, Lacey raised her right hand and waited not bothering to look around beyond her line of vision.

"Being a scientist is being an investigator" Mr Garfield hollered scrawling on the big blackboard.

"You know what the chicken said to the weasel?" Danny said from behind her.

"Am I the weasel in this story?" Lacey asked whirling around to glare at him.

He shook his head, sizing her glossy lips up with his eyes.

"Then I don't care" she snapped. Danny held up his scrap of paper with a gleeful glimmer in his eyes.

"Lucky number seven, "he chuckled.

"Cesar and Danny" Mr Garfield said clearing his throat as he wiped his glasses with a white handkerchief, "I want you boys to have front row sits for this"

"Lose the glasses, "the teacher said to Cesar as he flung himself onto his new desk with his hands behind head.

"Why are your eyes so red?"

"I was up last night studying Mr.G"

"That's a nice watch Mr G, "

"Can I have it?"

"I want you to read page twenty three, second paragraph"

"Lacey, give Cesar your text book so he read"

"I aint reading this shit"

"Just read it, homes" Danny said kicking the back of his chair

"Read, Cesar"

"Young's rule…"

"…For…form...formull...la...formulates"

"Settle down people"

"Read, Cesar"

"When was the last time you read a book Cesar?"

"Never, motherfucker"

"Don't do that Mr G; don't treat him like a punk. He's a man just like you" Danny said looking at Mr Garfield.

"The only thing you people respect is stupidity"

"Respect is earned Mr G, I learned that in the pen" Danny snapped back at him.

"You're forgetting yourself, young man. I'm the teacher here"

"Hey, this is just freedom of speech, what this country was built on"

The class crept closer to Mr G;s big desk to watch the experiment. The rat twisted his way between segmented walls dividing out the space inside the box.

"Yo, ese, this looks like your house" Danny chuckled nudging Cesar's ribs.

"Yeah but it smells shitty like_ your_ house"

"You need to keep a certain reward at the end of each branch, "the teacher spoke up trying to drown the cheers and jeers with his nasal voice, "this forms an incentive for the rat to complete its task"

"In this case, cheese will be the incentive" he said holding up a gnawed piece of orange cheese.

"This shit is so third grade" Sarita said rolling her eyes, inspecting the swirly patterns of her painted nails.

"You're my cheese" Danny murmured behind Lacey's ear, his warm breath fanning the nape of her heated neck. She bolted up, arms tightening across her chest as she tried to steady herself. She felt him press closer behind her as he peered over her shoulder to get a better look at the adventurous pink rat as it scrambled around the maze chasing the glorious cheese. Lacey narrowed her eyes at the maze willing her mind to concentrate but all she could think about were the tiny goose bumps bursting out across her flesh and Danny's scent burdening the air around her. She could feel his wild heartbeat against her back, rising and falling with her shoulder blade. Her breath caught in her throat when his hands caught her hips, he stumbled closer with his eyes seeking and searching over her shuddering shoulder. Dipping his face into the crook of her neck, his hand immersed in the dark depths of her hair as he swung his arm around her shoulder.

"He looks confused Mr G."

"Kind of how you always look Archie,"

"Yeah, he looks a little lost Mr G, "Cesar said 'someone should tell him that lust for that cheese will kill him faster than rat poison." He sneered, eyes fixed on Danny.

"You people are missing the whole point of this exercise, " the teacher began but the pealing bell cut him off much to the delight of the tattered and tattooed students as they all bonded for the door like a zillion rats trying to escape a tangled maze. Lacey peeled herself off Danny's warm soft hands, her skin briefly touching his fingertips. She could feel his eyes on her, keenly seeking hers under the flutter of her eyelids. She could still feel him, his touch, and his breath, all of him streaming through her veins like an unwanted drug.

"Hey, you get back here!" Mr G barked slapping his hand on the table, "One of you thugs has my watch and I want it back now!" he hissed at them, big eyes flashing behind his glimmering glasses.

"I don't know nothing about no watch, _homes_" Cesar shrugged his shoulders with a chuckle as he backed toward the door, his passé not far behind. Danny was still walking closely behind Lacey, his nose chasing her hair.

"Danny, empty your pockets!" Mr G made a grab for Danny's arm, jerking and twisting it until Danny stood facing him with flushed cheek and a heaving chest.

"My old man hits harder than you, _homes_" Danny snarled through gritted teeth as he closed the gap between him and the teacher.

"Fuck you _puta madre,_ you aint no teacher!" Sarita spat back at Mr G, fuelled by the electric tension around all of them "you just a stupid sub" she laughed, arms entwined around Archie's neck.

"I can be the good guy or I can be a mean son of a bitch" Mr G threatened even as he slowly backed away from Danny, his palms raised in front of him.

"Ooh, get your bitch on!" Regina cackled, touching Danny's quivering shoulder "Dumb substitute teacher "she added, her hands seeking his hand and Lacey heartbeat hastened with the blood drained from her cheeks.

"This class is stupid _ese, professor de mierda!"_ Cesar snapped like a beast possessed making a courageous attempt to attack the teacher before Danny stopped him, pulling him back toward the door. They all tumbled out of the door, eyes cast up at the big egg-yellow California sun that feasted on the youth. They grinned, laughed and toyed like the earth belonged to them. Everything was sweet and unfulfilled, the city waiting, trembling. Mr Garfield watched them, heavy lidded as he wiped his glasses again, more a nervous habit than a ritual.

"Lacey, he called gruffly as the student plodded toward the door" don't waste your life around here. You have so much potential" he said blinking back at her owlishly.

"Damn Mr G, this aint high school high" Lacey chuckled dryly, pressing her books firmly against her chest.

xXx

"Hey, Clint Eastwood is the man, _ese_" Cesar said to Danny as they drove around the tarred neighbourhood, the hot Californian air belching outside of the impala only to swell in growing crests inside the car. Whit hot heat mingled with Cesar's cigarette smoke. Danny was slowly getting used to the stench.

"What are we doing here?" Danny asked dragging the baseball cap over his eyes.

"We're here to meet the chemist"

"Nah, man" Danny stammered "whoever's cooking your shit, I don't care and I don't wanna meet them" he said shoving his hands in the front pockets of his jeans.

"Too bad for you _ese_, "Cesar shrugged his shoulders leading him toward the big double storey house with a freshly trimmed lawn. He hung back for a while watching Cesar's awkward as he walked toward the hose and then finally he followed with a quick glance over his shoulder as if someone were watching them. They ambled around wild spurting sprinkles, darting around the bursts of water careful not to wet the clothes.

Once at the door, Cesar thumbed the doorbell before he rapped on the giant door. It took a short while for someone to attend to his knock but the door eventually swung open.

"You're late"

Danny was too preoccupied with the dazzling spray of water twinkling in the bright sunlight to pay any attention to the owner of the voice but when he did spin around, his eyes widened. It was Rico, that little faceless geek who used to disappear inside the grimy halls of Quincy Adams high school, Rico was Benny's meth cooker.

"Welcome to my humble abode" Rico said to a shocked Danny as he led the two of them down the stairs to hi basement which he had transformed into a very capable laboratory.

xXx

Sometimes you needed to blame somebody, that's how life worked. Often the ones we blamed were the least deserving of this blame game but they were the closet to us and so they were the victims of our wrath.

"I wish we could get along" Lacey said looking at Clara as her sister packed away her saxophone. She had missed another one of Clara's recitals and so had their mother.

"We're sisters; we're not supposed to get along" Clara scoffed not bothering to look up at her. Lacey hesitated, shifting by the door as she buttoned her shirt.

"You're going out?" Clara asked, her eyes fixed on her task at hand.

"Yeah, some party with Benny and the gang"

Clara rolled her eyes just as Cesar's hooter started down stairs.

xXx

Danny was uncomfortable and the new revelation of Rico as Benny's chemist was making him even more uneasy. He was not enjoying the party, the music was too loud and careless and the Styrofoam cups felt sticky around his hand.

"There's Sarita, God she looks good" Rico said beside him as he guzzled down his beer.

"Don't look" h quickly insisted when Danny thrust his head in Sarita's direction.

"Just watch how she moves, she's so perfect" Rico continued, smiling as though he were in a mindless dream.

"Thought I wasn't supposed to look" Danny scoffed trying to capture some taste in his beer.

"Nice smart mouth tough guy" Rico nudged him.

"What, you like Sarita now?" Danny sniggered glancing across at the scrawny kid.

"I know, I'm such a cliché" Rico retorted with a grunt as he rolled his eyes.

"Yup, you're hopeless"

"That makes two of us then since you're totally hung up on Lacey"

Danny whirled around to glare at him, beads of sweat sprouting from his covered forehead. He swung his baseball cap around to clear his eyes as he stared down at Rico.

"I'm a smart guy remember, although your crush is quite obvious. A blind man can see how hard up you're over Miss Porter"

"Your secret's safe with me" He quickly noted when he noticed Danny's distress.

xXx

Lacey wasn't exactly sure how it had transpired but she found herself alone with Danny in Cesar's reeking impala. The car was cloyed with the strong stench of smoke, old sodden socks and crusted dry stains of beer. It was not exactly the most romantic location in the universe. Yet here she was, listening to the rasping sounds of some smooth ballad on the radio. She had to give the boy an A for his effort. She tore her attention away from the radio to listen to Danny as he finally said something after his long nervous silence.

"You're special" Danny said, his eyes wounding hers with their anguish. Lacey sucked in a blissful breath as his fingers taunted her, softly wound around her hair. He pulled at a lock of hair as if to examine it.

"Yeah, right" she mumbled, a desperate fire flaring inside her strangled chest.

"I wish you could see what I see" Danny smiled, his tipsy eyes slowly macerating every portion of her face in a desperate for something. Her heart beat foolishly as Danny's anguished eyes clung to her trembling lips. She strangled her lower lip between her teeth trying to hide the ripe rawness of the moment. Reclining back against the leather seat, she closed her eyes as Danny's voice charmed the torpid air around the car.

Since Rita's death she was trying to view things differently. Life was far too short to dwell on all the hate and evil around her. She wanted to see the beauty in all the squalor and at that moment Danny was the most beautiful thing amidst the filth.

He cupped her cheek with his warm hand, his lovely fingers tracing her cheek as the air kept on hissing mimicking the spreading heat in her anxious belly. His bashful finger crept across to her lips. Gently and with drunken intent, his soft lips swept over hers blissfully. His breath mingled with hers, his mouth sucking and drinking the life blood from her mouth. His lips pressed languorously, his tongue seeking hers in beautiful conquest. Lacey melted; heart and mouth moulding with his in the steamy heat of Cesar's stinky car with its foggy grimy windows.


End file.
